Avis McSmith, teacher and pioneer

FORT LAUDERDALE — Avis Shepp McSmith, who came to Fort Lauderdale in 1924 and, through McSmith Kindergarten, helped grow well-mannered, successful people, died on Aug. 3. She was 98.

"She was an icon in Broward County and a legend in the African-American community," said Eugene Pettis, an attorney who attended her kindergarten in 1965. "She is one of the shoulders I stand on. Early on, she established the importance of education."

Mrs. McSmith taught children who rose to prominence, including Pettis and attorney Daryl Wilcox. She operated the first indoor pre-school for black children in Fort Lauderdale for more than 25 years.

"She taught us Bible verses, the alphabet," said Wilcox, who stayed in touch with her. "We read a little bit, did addition and subtraction, and we learned manners."

Wilcox's younger sister, Cheryl, a minister at Mount Hermon African Methodist Episcopal Church, went to McSmith Kindergarten in 1964 and recalled Mrs. McSmith as "good musically. We learned all the kid songs."

"I tried to serve them as a mother, friend, nurse, counselor and teacher," Mrs. McSmith wrote in a 1987 memoir. "I tried to instill in them some good things that would last them their lifetime."

Wilcox said his kindergarten teacher, though capable of dispensing discipline, was generally kind. "I don't remember her being a firm hand or stern task master," he said.

Her school began on Oct. 31, 1949, with one child, Harold Wilkes Jr. He longed for companionship and, within a week, two more kids joined him. They were a class of three until 1950, when the student body grew to 15, according to a 2001 proclamation of a day in Mrs. McSmith's honor from then-commissioner Carlton Moore.

Mrs. McSmith and her late husband John built the kindergarten next door to their home on Northwest 15th Avenue. She taught there until 1975, when it closed.

"The early education foundation she provided was integral in us succeeding in elementary school and beyond," said Pettis. "We felt fortunate to go there and get a quality education in our community."

Avis Shepp was born March 2, 1912, in Wellborn, northwest of Gainesville, to L.K. and Rosa Willis Shepp. After her parents brought her to Fort Lauderdale in 1924, they sent her to schools in Tampa and Miami. She graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in Miami in 1933 and attended Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach.

She returned to Fort Lauderdale, married John McSmith, and began a career of social activism for her people and teaching the smallest black children.

She was a member of Ascension Peace Presbyterian Church. In her younger days she played piano at Piney Grove Baptist Church and Mount Hermon, both in Fort Lauderdale, and Welcome Baptist in Oakland Park.

Her activism surfaced in the late 1950s, when Mrs. McSmith informed Fort Lauderdale City Hall there were no bathroom facilities downtown for black people. The city manager thanked her, and the city built a restroom in Stranahan Park.

In 1953, when polling places were established in the black community of Fort Lauderdale, Mrs. McSmith was one of the first black poll workers.

The city designated her home, built in 1947, an historic landmark. In April, an Urban League youth group chose the house on Northwest 15th Avenue for a painting and landscaping face-lift.

There are no immediate survivors.

Funeral arrangements for Mrs. McSmith, handled by Roy Mizell and Kurtz Funeral Home in Fort Lauderdale, are pending.